Robb Krumlauf is the Scientific Director of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Dr. Krumlauf received degrees in chemical engineering (B.Ch.E., ‘70) and developmental biology (Ph.D., ‘79). Following postdoctoral training with Shirley Tilghman in mouse genetics, Dr. Krumlauf was a group leader and Head of the Division of Developmental Neurobiology at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London (1985-2000).  Dr. Robb Krumlauf’s laboratory is interested in understanding the gene regulatory networks and pathways that govern patterning of the nervous system and body plan of vertebrates during development; how they are altered in human diseases; and how these pathways are conserved or modified in evolution. A molecular focus of the group has centered on the Hox homeobox gene network in head development. Using evolutionary comparisons between the Hox complexes of different species, combined with experimental embryology and transgenic analyses, the group has begun to build a picture of the tissue interactions, signals and transcriptional regulatory components which governs the restricted expression and functional properties of the Hox cascade. A major goal of the group is to understand the cis-regulatory circuits that control the Hox regulatory networks in vertebrate segmentation and development.